Worth a watch...
This is seriously worth a watch! Rwanda is a beautiful country with beautiful people.
From the creators:
In summer of 2012, Mammoth spent two weeks in Rwanda, Africa filming for the country's tourism department. After delivering the finished video, we decided to create another edit to include all the bonus footage and outtakes. This video is NOT the edit currently playing in their airports and welcome centers.
Created by MammothMedia.tv
I see.
The book of John tells about Jesus giving the gift of sight to a blind man. The beggar had been blind his entire life until he had that encounter with Jesus. It’s a story I’ve heard numerous times, yet, until a few days ago, had forgotten how miraculous it really is. Someone who couldn’t see suddenly could, and it changed everything for him.
Check out John 9:1-11.
The beauty of that encounter with Jesus was brought to my attention last week by Beatha and Therese. I was leading the Peace House women in a brainstorm session to help them find a name for their co-op and product line. We wanted a name that represented the ladies, where they’ve been, and where they’re going.
Esther adding to our brainstorm session.
To get our creative juices flowing, I asked the ladies to pair up and answer a few questions. What was your life like before you became a part of the Peace House program versus how it currently is? What characteristics of God have you seen during that transition? What verses or stories from the Bible do you identify with? Answering those questions ended up not only giving us a big pool of ideas to work with, it also provided a lot of opportunities for the girls to talk in-depth about what they have been through. The story from John about the blind beggar was among those answers.
Eventually, we narrowed the choices down to our three favorites, the Kinyarwanda words agaciro (value), ndabona (I see), and ndi muzima (new life).
As a group we talked through the top three choices, and each girl shared specific ways each term was true in her life. What the women shared was honest and sometimes heartbreaking to hear. Much of it was centered on how the truths of God that they’ve learned within the last few months clash with how they were previously living. They were not shy to tell of how drastically different their lives are now. A few times the girls got so excited that they clapped and cheered when someone finished sharing.
“I thought because I wasn’t educated, I couldn’t learn new skills and have a safe job. That’s a lie.”
“I have value because God says I do, not because of what people think of me.”
“Now I know that I am loved by people. I didn’t know anyone could really love me.”
“I am worth something. I used to think I wasn’t so I would do whatever it took to make money for food and clothes and a place to live. Now I know I don’t have to do that. I am worth more.”
“Now I think it’s important to love other people, and I try to do it. Before I didn’t think anyone wanted the love I had to give.”
“Because of my life before I came here and what I thought about myself, I couldn’t see anything straight. When you can’t see, it’s easy to get confused. What is right looks wrong. What is wrong looks right. Now that I see God, how I see everything else has changed. I want to see myself how God sees me. I see a better life than what I had before. I can see straight.”
We eventually settled on Ndabona (I see) as the name for the women’s co-op and product line, and I think it’s perfect. Like one of the women said, “now that I see God, how I see everything else has changed.” Much like the blind beggar who couldn’t see anything, now that the women of Peace House have encountered Jesus, they have good vision.
I walked away from the Peace House that day with mixed emotions. Excited and thrilled to know the miracles of God in the lives of my new friends. Heavy-hearted after hearing of the desperation and confusion from their days before Peace House. Inspired to look at myself again with new eyes to see where God is at work and where I need Him to give me new vision.
Devil in a Black Dress
This is a treadle sewing machine. It’s non-electric and foot-powered, meaning you have to pump your legs and feet in exactly the right rhythm to get the foot pedal going and the machine moving. It’s instruction manual is written in Chinese, with a roughly translated English section. And by “roughly,” I mean instead of the word “thumb” it has “thun!b.” The manual also includes what are intended to be helpful diagrams that actually look more like xeroxed copies of xerox copies of ink smudges slightly resembling a sewing machine.
This treadle machine and 3 of his buddies are bad dudes and have been eating my lunch all week. As I’ve been familiarizing myself with how they work and trying to teach the girls, the treadles have earned several good cussings and numerous nicknames from me…
Sewing Assassinator
The Stitcher of Death
Pedaler of Doom
Devil in a Black Dress
No-Power Sour
Thigh-Master
Neverending Needle Knotter
Libby-Hater
It’s been a rough time. By the end of this past week, the treadles and I were getting along somewhat better, but we still have some major making up to do. A repairman is coming by on Monday to see about making a couple of them a bit less ornery.
On a related note, don’t get your finger anywhere near a sewing machine needle when a Rwandan has her foot on the treadle pedal. I almost lost a fingertip a couple of times!
The 3 Week Report
• Getting a great chaco tan takes just over 2 weeks.
• With the daily potatoes, rice, and bananas at lunch, I’m carb-loading as if I’m running a marathon every day.
• Celine Dion is the songstress of this
country, closely followed by
Rihanna.
• The Shelby fam that I’m living with is awesome.
• Even though my phone doesn’t get service here, I still find myself checking it every once in a while for a missed call or text. Ironically, I often forget to use my local go-phone.
• Walking to and from places is highly underrated.
• Dreamt a few nights ago that I flew back home and then brought my family and friends back here with me. Sometimes I’m sad that I don’t get to share any of this experience with people that I love.
• You can still understand a good bit about people even when you don’t understand what they’re saying.
• The Rwandan pace of life is much slower. I really like it, but it’s been my toughest adjustment. I definitely have tasks that need accomplishing and things are urgent, but there’s a different feel to it. There are a lot of pro's to this new pace, but I'm still processing and adjusting to it.
• Mixing cultures is hard. And I don’t just mean Rwandan and American. There’s a third culture that exists – the Kingdom culture. Jill and I have been talking a good bit about where all three of those cultures overlap and where there are gaps between them. God’s way of living often contradicts what is culturally accepted and expected, both here and at home. It’s interesting to observe the collision of all three here.
• Reading God’s Word matters. And patterning my life after what I read really matters. The Peace House ladies start everyday by reading Scripture together and sharing what action they will take based upon what they read. Every girl is expected to participate. It’s been convicting to be a part of those times with them.
• No matter how hard I try, walking while balancing heavy (or even light) objects on my head is not in my skill set.